BIO: John B. Landis, Cumberland County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter

Copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/
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History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania.
Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, 
Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and 
Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and 
Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc.  Illustrated.  Chicago: Warner, Beers 
& Co., 1886.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm
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                                PART II.

             HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA.

                            CHAPTER XXXVIII.

                          BOROUGH OF CARLISLE.

382  BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

  JOHN B. LANDIS, Carlisle, was born on his father's farm in Upper 
Allen Township, one mile south of Mechanicsburg, August 21, 1841.  He 
worked on the farm and attended school until he was seventeen, when he 
began teaching, and taught in York and Cumberland Counties five 
sessions; then entered the select school of Prof. S. B. Heiges, where 
he completed his studies.  In April, 1860, he began the study of 
medicine with Dr. R. H. Long, of Mechanicsburg, with whom he remained 
until August, 1862, when he enlisted as a private in Company F, One 
Hundred and Thirtieth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and was 
later made a corporal.  He participated in the battles of Antietam and 
Fredericksburg, and in the latter received a shell wound in the neck 
and shoulder.  He was sent to Point Lookout Hospital, Maryland, and on 
February 12, 1863, was discharged for disability, when he returned 
home.  Subsequently he assisted in raising Company A, Two Hundred and 
Ninth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, of which company he was 
made captain in September, 1864, serving as such until the close of the 
war.  From September 29 until November 24, 1864, he was in command of 
Redoubt Carpenter on the Bermuda Hundred front, on the south bank of 
the James River.  His regiment was next stationed in front of 
Petersburg, at Meade Station.  He participated in the battles of Fort 
Steadman March 25, 1865, and Petersburg April 2, 1865, besides various 
skirmishes, and was mustered out with his regiment May 31, 1865, and 
returned to his home in Mechanicsburg.  In 1866 Capt. Landis was 
appointed military instructor for the White Hall Soldiers' Orphan 
School, and in April, 1867, received the appointment of deputy 
collector of internal revenue for the Fifteenth District of 
Pennsylvania, which he resigned September 30, 1876, to enter the 
Carlisle Deposit Bank, accepting the position of cashier.  This 
position he held until February, 1877, when he resigned on account of 
impaired health, and after a year's rest began the study of law in the 
office of John Hays, Esq., of Carlisle.  In 1881 he was admitted to the 
bar, and has since been actively engaged in the practice of his 
profession.  The Captain was elected treasurer of the Carlisle Gas & 
Water Company July 1, 1882, and has been a member of the town council 
since the spring of 1881.  On June 9, 1870, he was married to Miss 
Barbara H. Merkel, a daughter of Hon. Levi and Susannah (Martin) 
Merkel, former of whom was a banker of Mechanicsburg and the organizer 
of the present First National Bank there.  To our subject and wife have 
been born four sons and two daughters:  Victor (who died in infancy), 
Norman, Merkel, Naomi, Olive and Kenneth.  Mr. and Mrs. Landis are 
members of the First Presbyterian Church, in which he is an elder and 
trustee.  The father of Capt. Landis was Jacob Landis, a native of York 
County, a farmer and mill-wright, who married Miss Mary Mohler, of 
Cumberland County, a daughter of Daniel Mohler, of Lancaster County.  
Capt. Landis has the following brothers and sisters:  Anna, wife of 
George Brindle, a retired 

383  BOROUGH OF CARLISLE.

farmer of Franklin County; Daniel, minister and farmer of York County; 
Mary, the wife of John Senseman, farmer of Cumberland County; Leah, 
wife of John Knisely, a farmer in Upper Allen Township; David, a 
contractor and builder of Huntington, Penn.; Philip, a farmer of 
Osborne, Kas., and Susan, wife of Andrew Knoderer, a farmer of Upper 
Allen Township.